adventures in boiling unfamiliar edible substances

The other day, several of our student friends took me and my girls out to a tiny hole in the wall restaurant for a food style they translate for us as Hot Pot. In the center of our large round table was a depression with a burner resting within it. A large divided pot of two distinct broths was brought out and laid upon the inset burner and rapidly made to boil. Facing me was an ominous spicy red broth, and out of my reach was a basic paler broth- presumably derived from onion and the like. Food was ordered by the plate- each plate a portion of some different raw ingredient to add to one side or another of our soup. Noodles were recognized (even though they were green) but an array of unfamiliar vegetables puzzled us- as did odd piles of something that appeared like kelp. The meat could have been considered a fearful sight, but i am accustomed to exercising the discipline of withholding judgment on such things. All of these things are periodically added to the stew in shifts. When a certain combination is considered cooked through, it is eaten out of the pot and replaced with new combinations. The brew on my side of the table was mouth scaldingly and lip numbingly spicy. Happily, it all tasted awesome. I loved our steam drenched little gathering, in a tiny cold low ceilinged upstairs room, with burning mouths and warm hearted relationship- partaking in our friends' lives and culture. All the unknown edibles that entered the soup emerged as delicious morsels- and had they not, its unlikely I would have known, owing to the numbingly hot flavor. Such a great time! Hot Pot is something i am so happy to have shared in- because I would have been rather intimidated trying to navigate the process without local insight, though it has long interested me. Knowing now how to go about the whole production, I am excited to eat this style again with my team and other local friends.